Return of the Kiffin Opera

The Raiders aren’t waiting for former coach Lane Kiffin to take the first shot next week. They went back on the offensive Friday, re-stating their breach-of-contract case for not paying Kiffin a dime since firing him Sept. 30.

Kiffin will appear at a deposition Monday in San Francisco as part of his arbitration claim against the Raiders, who fired him with cause and refused to pay the remainder of his two-year contract.

The Raiders made it clear what they think about anything Kiffin has to say.

“Kiffin’s deposition will focus on on his repeated lies to the media, team and fans,” Raiders public relations director Mike Taylor said in an email Friday.

(Update: Kiffin is actually seeking two month’s pay to cover the time he was unemployed before Tennessee hired him. The Raiders have filed a counterclaim, a team official told The Chronicle, and expect an independent, NFL-appointed arbitrator will hold a hearing in June.)

The Raiders have been preparing for this day for some time. On Jan. 22, their attorney sent a letter to the University of Tennessee president and general counsel, which hired Kiffin as its new head coach in December. The letter detailed the Raiders’ case against Kiffin, who they accuse of being insubordinate (among other things) to Raiders owner Al Davis.

Tops on their complaint list was how Kiffin violated the NFL constitution, which was amended in March 2008 to require coaches to communicate with, respect and not embarrass ownership. For all the details, look for a longer story to post in these web pages with a copy of the letter. I like the part where they call out the Tennessee athletic director for dissing the Raiders.

The letter also floats the idea Kiffin may have been helping opposing teams who played the Raiders after he was fired, giving them one more reason to withhold his pay. The undisclosed damages they are seeking involve, in part, Kiffin’s damaging behavior and comments of the organization since he was fired.

In short, it turns out this blood feud did not end at Davis’ overhead projector presentation. Kiffin may find that ticking off Steve Spurrier, Nick Saban and Urban Meyer are the least of his problems when he goes up against the Raiders’ team of lawyers.